Songs from Atomic Blonde

The movie is set around the time of the fall of the Berlin wall and much of the action is set in the vicinity. It was when I heard the song over the opening credits, I knew we were in for a great soundtrack.

Cat People (Putting out the Fire) by David Bowie is my favourite song in any movie when it plays at the opening of Chapter 5 of Inglorious Basterds. (See post entitled Revenge of the Giant Face). So to hear it in a new setting was amazing.

The Berlin wall opened in 1989 and the soundtrack is full of 1980's hits. Some of these will resonate with my children.

99 Luftballons by Nena

I Ran (So Far Away) by A Flock of Seagulls

Under Pressure by David Bowie and Queen

Father Figure by George Michael

London Calling by The Clash

Just Like Heaven by The Cure

Hungry like the Wolf  by Duran Duran

Atomic by Blondie

Not a list of all the songs in the movie; go to tunefind.com for the others.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead - Faber Modern Classics

After seeing the play live in cinemas in April (and at Oxford Playhouse in 2005), I thought it might interesting to look at the script. Faber Modern Classics published this version earlier this year to coincide with the fiftieth anniversary production at The Old Vic.

And yes, reading the play is as funny as watching it. I could not read the lines spoken by The Player without hearing David Haig in my head. Or for that matter, Daniel Radcliffe and Joshua McGuire. Towards the end, Stoppard has fun with Guildenstern's summary of Hamlet's state of mind:

"It really boils down to symptoms. Pregnant replies, mystic allusions, mistaken identities, arguing his father is his mother, that sort of thing.; intimations of suicide, forgoing of exercise, loss of mirth, hints of claustrophobia, not to say delusions of imprisonment; invocations of camels, chameleons, capons, whales, weasels, hawks, handsaws - riddles, quibbles and evasions; amnesia, paranoia, myopia (I could not stop laughing of how that is so ridiculous, especially after how serious is the previous word); day dreaming, hallucinations; stabbing his elders, abusing his parents, insulting his lover and appearing hatless in public - knock-kneed, drooped-stockinged and sighing like a love-sick schoolboy, which at his age is coming on a bit strong."

Far more dramatic than seeing the play, the excerpts where R&G are included in Shakespeare's text of Hamlet stand out vividly. This is a book to revisit time and time again.

Julius Caesar at RSC Stratford

I was lucky enough to see Edward Hall's vibrant production of Julius Caesar at Stratford in 2001. Greg Hicks was a dynamic Brutus and Tim Pigott-Smith an insecure Cassius. In the old theatre, the introduction of a catwalk and a mob scattered through the auditorium worked really well in what is, quite frankly, a fairly boring political play interrupted by some devastating interludes.

In this new production, Andrew Jackson has the benefit of the new space, so much more suitable to this play. He has raised the stage ( brilliant for us in the circle, less so for those at the front of the stalls peering upwards) with only a raised plinth on what is otherwise a bare stage. We are definitely in Roman times, the togas are perhaps too overpowering.

What surprised me most was that the cast is so young. I had forgotten that the play is mostly about the conspirators. Brutus and Cassius have twice as many lines as the rest of the cast put together. Alex Waldmann (on the right) is such a youthful and slight Brutus, it was hard to imagine his leadership in their project. Both Martin Hutson as Cassius and James Corrigan as Mark Anthony also seem to have been cast in a young person's guide to Rome. So when Caesar eventually comes on stage, we are taken aback by the maturity of Andrew Woodall. He ( and Patrick Drury as the poet( seem so out of place.

On the plus side, we have beautifully spoken dialogue, I hardly missed a word. The funeral orations to the mob from Brutus and then Mark Anthony are quite superb. These resonate with much of the political rhetoric we still see around the world today. So my final reaction was that there was too much concentration on the politics and not enough theatricality in the performance. I just hope my seat in the stalls for the upcoming Coriolanus is not too near the front.

The Big Sick, Valerian etc and Atomic Blonde

In the desert that is the cinema during the school holidays, an occasional oasis appears; take Juno as an example. This year it's The big sick. Although this is not comparable with the former, its is still an interesting diversion from the cartoons and blockbusters. Not as funny or witty as it could be, and given the plot, we see far too little of Zoe Kazan and too much of co-writer Kumail Nanjiani (no Diablo Cody unfortunately). But in a desert, anything is welcome.

Here is a case in point. I only went to see Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (to give it it's full pretentious title) because of the director. Oh Luc what have you done. When you follow a director sometimes you find a turkey. How can the creator of  Nikita, Leon, The Fifth Element and more recently Lucy come up with such a poor script. He was done no favours by the dreadful Dane DeHann in the title role. Maybe I should have watched it in 3D? Or then maybe I'm too old for this kind of thing.

All that was missing from this high action spy thriller was some wit. The James Bond franchise knew that a quip after a successful punch up was what was needed. In Atomic Blonde it is all too serious. The plot has been derided by some critics as hard to follow, but I didn't find that a problem. The action sequences work quite well and "towering" above all is the cool Charlize Theron. She is not required to put on the acting hat that gave her an Oscar for Monster, but has to reprise the stunts from the excellent 2 Days in the Valley, all of 21 years ago. Time has been kind. Actually she looks better now, especially given all the fabulous costume changes. David Leitch has directed with a relish and there is just about enough story to make this an enjoyable couple of hours.

Songs from The Handmaid's Tale

Another list, this time of my favourite songs from the riveting  Channel 4 series The Handmaid's Tale.

The superb collection of modern music started for me in the first episode with:

You Don't Own Me by Lesley Gore (See post 6th November 2016 for it's reincarnation on Strictly Come Dancing).

Episode 2 has this 1985 song:

Don't You Forget About Me by Simple Minds

Episode 3 has a song I could not remember hearing before:

Waiting for Something by Jay Reatard

On to Episode 4 and a song that played constantly on the Motorola radio in my Triumph Herald:

Daydream Believer by The Monkees

It wasn't until Episode 8 that I chose the last of my songs:

White Rabbit by Jefferson Airplane.

Tring Book Club - The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry

If there is one word that summarises this book it is substantial. Not only over 400 plus tightly packed pages, but also in themes of science meeting religion, the hysteria of village life in the 1890's and an unusual love triangle. Cora Seaborne is recently widowed and finds her way to Colchester and from there to that village on the mysterious Blackwater Estuary.

The characters who she meets along the way are very well portrayed and the story develops on different fronts without losing it's thread. Sometimes I felt the author went into too much detail on some of her descriptions surrounding a few events, but mostly this is a gripping tale of a woman realising her own identity after a hard marriage.

The dialogue is excellent and there are many clever and witty remarks: "I'd no idea you knew England extended beyond Palmer's Green. Are you lost? Can I lend you my map?"

Like everyone else at book club, I loved this stirring novel.

Bearbrook 10K - 2017

A third running of my home village race. After last years 54.06 PB and my best run at any distance with a first 68% age grade, I was back to about the same time as the previous year. But given that the sun was out the whole way, I was pleased with the 55.16. I didn't really cool down until the evening.

No photographs this year as Alison was on volunteering duty at the London Stadium for the World Athletics. It was nice to see lots of friends from parkrun. I tried to keep up with Kate and even took a turn at pacing until she took off over halfway. Angie next door was helping out as she is a member of the Bearbrook club. She was there marshaling and to wave to me after a few hundred yards and at the finish taking off the timer tag on my running shoes.